Accelerometer



SrTEs PATENT Fisici:

ACCELEROMETEB William r. welch, Arlington, va., ssngnor' to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application July 28, 1942, Serial No. 452,576

4 claims. (on. 1v1-209) is subjected to an instantaneous or rapidly appliediorce in the nature of a shock is well known. Apparatus which is apt to be subjected to shocking forces in this manner is frequently tested for its ability to stand up under shock prior to being placed in actual use. To the best of my knowledge, no device has been heretofore devised which will indicate or measure the motion whichv is imparted' to a body upon being subjected to a shocking force. Obviously, an instrument that will measure the motion of a body subjected to shock is desirable in that it will provide an aid in den termining the nature of a shock and explaining why apparatus breaks when shocked.

One of the principal objects ot this invention is to provide a device for producing a. measurable impulse proportional to the movement of a body subjected to a shocking force.

A further object of this invention is to provide a device whichmay be readily attached to a. body to be subjected to a shocking force, and

which will generate an electrical impulse propertional to the movement of the body in response to a shock from which the frequency and acceleration. of movement of the body may be determined.

A further object is to provide a device for deecting the movement of abody under a shock orce.

A further object is to provide a device for rigid attachment to a. body to be subjected to shock with charge generating means comprising a piezo-electric quartz crystal which will generate an impulse in response to movement of the body under shock from` which the acceleration and frequency of movement imparted to the body may be readily determined.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral I designates as a Whole a device for producing a measurable impulse ln responseto movement of a body 2 as caused by the application thereto of a shocking force. The device l comprises a housing 3 adapted to be rigidly attached to the body 2 and to this end the housing 3 is provided with a threaded opening t for engagement with a threaded end 5 of a member 6. The member ly preferably is formed from a single piece of material having a hexagonal member S is threaded into a nut 5 welded to the body 2 for the purpose of securing the housing 3 to the body 2. y I

A pair of quartz crystals 9 and l@ are mounted within the housing l for generating a charge or electrical impulse in response to smovement'. of the casing 3 and body 2 by a shocking force applied to the body 2. `'I'he crystals 8 and l0 are cylindrical in shape and are cut with their electrical axis parallel to their cylindrical axis. A copper electrode Il is positioned 'between the facing end surfaces of the crystals 9 and lll. The other end surface of the crystal 9 is adapted to seat on a surface l2 formed in the housing 3.

The other end surface'of the crystal l@ is adapted to seat on surface ill provided by a member l5.

The member l5 is provided with a bias for maintaining the crystals 9 and l0 in position between the surfaces l2 and it. To this end the member l5 is resiliently mounted within the Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a study of the follow tent and nature ofthe impulse produced by movement in response to a. shocking force; and;

Fig. 3 is a modification for use in connection with the device shown in Fig. 1.

housing vby annular disk springs l 8 and I'l. The outer edges of the springs l@ and il' are anchored to the housing t by an annular element I3 adapted to seat against the housing 3 as at i9, an annular spacer element 2b, and an annular adjusting member 2l having threaded engagement with the housing 3. Upon positioning the spring I6 between the members it and 20 and the spring ll between the members 2@ and 2l as shown, the outer ends of the springs 'it and il will be anchored with respect to the casing 3.

The inner ends of the springs I6 and Il are anchored to the 'member i5 by an annular spacing member 22- and an internally threaded member 23 adapted to have threaded engagement with the member l5. Upon positioning the inner edge of the spring l5 between the annular surface 24 and the member 22 and the inner end of the Thr-: anchoring parts :for the springs I6 and Il are so designed that upon assembly of the parts middle section and` threaded ends band l. The other end 'l of the as shown in Flg. 1, the springs I6 and I1 will be flexed in a direction to provide a resilient bias maintaining the member i in engagement with the `crystal I 9. To adjust the deection of the springs IE and I'I and thus the resilient bias on the member I5, removable shims 25 are provided between the outer edges of the springs I6 and the seating member I8. If the bias is to be increased, it is merely necessary to remove one or more of the shims 25 and thereafter operate the member 2I to move the outer edges of the springs I6 and I1 inwardly with respect to the inner edges thereof, the position of the inner edges being xed by the 4position of the member I5 as determined by the crystals 9 and I0.

When a body is struck a shocking force, it is subjected to large and rapidly applied accelerations and consequently vlbrates at extremely high frequencies. Such vibrations and accelerations are encountered, for example, by apparatus mounted on armor-plated structure when it is struck by a projectile. The measurement of the amount of acceleration andthe frequency of vibration, as made possible by the device I, provides knowledge which is helpful in theldesign of apparatus to be used on an armor-plated structure such as a naval vessel which apparatus must function even though the vessel be struck by a projectile.

In order to prevent movement of the surface I4 out of engagement with the crystal IIJ,A the bias on the member I5 must be suiiicient to withstand extremely large accelerations tending to move the member I5 to the right a-s viewed in Fig. i. By keeping down the mass of the member i5 and Aemploying stiff springs i6 and I'I a bias may readily be provided for maintaining the crystals 9 and I0 in position sulcient for accelerations up to about 8,000 times gravity.

Bodies subjected to shock will vibrate at extremely high frequencies and such `frequencies will be found to have a range up to 5,000 cycles per second or greater. For an indicatorto have a response proportional to acceleration, its natural frequency must be greater than twice the -frequency of the acceleration being measured.

The natural frequency of a device is a function of its spring constant and its mass. In the case.

' of the device I, the spring constant is approximately the elastic stiffness of the crystals 9 and I0 in an axial direction. By maintaining the mas-s of the member I5 small, the natural fref quency of the device I will be found to, be very high and in the nature of from about 10,000 to about 20,000 cycles per second. By increasing the weight of the mass I5, the sensitivity -of the device I will ibe increased at the expense of a 'decrease in the natural frequency thereof.

Such increase in sensitivity accordingly lowers the frequency of vibration whichthe device I is capable of measuring. However, the increase in sensitivity i-s frequently desirable for measuring smaller accelerations. In this' respect, it will be noted that crystals 9 and I9 function in the dual capacity of a piezo-electric generator and a inechanical spring of high stillness.

In operation, the detector device I isfmounted on the body subjected to the shocking force in the manner explained above. Upon a shock being applied to the body 2, the device I will be vibrated back and forth with the body 2 and a similar acceleration will be imparted to the casing 3 and is imparted to the body 2 by the shocking force.

If the instantaneous acceleration imparted to the housing 3 is assumed in a direction to the richt 4 as viewed in Fig. 1, a compression of the crystals 9 and I0 will be had due to the mass of the member I5 tending to remain at rest by reason of its inertia. The piezo-electric property of the crystals 9 and I9 causes a charge to be produced proportional to the force exerted by the accelerated mass thereon. The crystals 9 and I9 are so arranged that their inner facing surfaces will be of like polarity. The charge produced by the crystals 9 and I0 is taken 01T as an electric impulse through the terminal 28 which is electrically connected to the electrode II. The impulse flowing through the electrode 28 is employed in a manner to be described to indicate or measure the characteristics of the motion imparted to the casing 3 by the shocked body 2.

The end surfaces of the crystals 9 and III, together with the seating surfaces I2 and I4, are so formed that pressure applied to the crystals 9 and l0 will be distributed uniformly over the surfaces of the ucrystals 9 and I0. It frequently happens that adjacent surfaces will be formed withl high spots which may cause a concentration of the force applied thereto in a manner likely to cause crystal breakage. Such concentration of force may likewisevbe cau-sed by a particle of dirt 4being lodged between the surfaces I2 and I4 and of the conducting material enables the high spots or deposited dirtparticles to embed in the conducting material andthe force is thereby distributed uniformly over the surfaces of the crystals. However, in this respect, -it is necessary that the conducting material or tin-foil be thin in order that a cushioning effect which would otherwise interfere with the natural frequency will not be had.

In the schematic showing of Fig. 2, the essential parts shown in- Fig. 1 are indicated by like numerals. In this showing, it will be noted that the element 29 `is substituted for the springs I6 and II. The electrical impulse or chargek generated by the crystals 9 and I0 is taken of! through a conduit 30' which is connected to one side of a condenser 3l, the other side of the condenser 3I being grounded tothelcasing 3. The

l charge which goes into the condenser 3l proy high input impedance.

age across the condenser 3l to be proportionalto the charge for the lowest frequency to be measured. The voltage across the condenser '3l is fed into an amplifier 33 of a type having a The output of the amplier 33 is fed into a cathode ray type oscilloscope 35 capable of following frequencies of the type encountered. A tuned fllter 34 is located in the output circuit and is tuned to correspond with the natural frequency of the device I. By this means transient impulses due to the natural frequency vibrations of the member I5 on the elastic stiffness of the crystals 9 and I9 are sup- I pressed.

celeration of the casing 3. Thefbeam is at the same time moved with a constant velocity in a direction perpendicular to the aforementioned deflection by means of a suitable sweep circuit (not shown). The trace of the beam is photographed by the camera to produce arecord of the motion imparted to the casing 3. As fan alternative to the use of a sweep circuit, the camera lm may be moved with a constant velocity in a direction transverse to the beam -deflection. From the photographic record the acceleration and the frequency of vibration imparted to the casing 3 may be readily determined.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent vthat the piezo-electric properties of the crystals 9` and ill,` together with their mounting withinv the housing 3 provide a novel and efcient detector device for producing a measurable impulse from which the characteristics of the motion imparted to a body in response to the application thereto of a force of shock proportions may be determined. l The device I has theadvantage of being light in weight and small in size. It will thus be apparent that its size and weight limitations do not interfere with its attachment to the body to be studied. Moreover, the apparatus for measuring the impulse generated in response to shock may be located'at a distance from the device, the impulse from the terminal 28 being transmittable by cable to such apparatus.

Referring to Fig. 3, there is shown a modified form of the member ISa for use in the device I to enable such device to be employed as a force y meter. In this showing, the numeral 38 designatesthe threaded portion adapted to have engagement with the element 23 as shown in Fig. 1. The difference in theconstruction of the member I5a lies in the provision' of the additional threaded portion 31. The portion 31 is adapted f or engagement with anotherv part of a structure (not shown) similar to the part 2. Relative movement between such vDarts will vthus cause relative' movement between the part lia and the housing 3. vthelatter movement being representative of :a force due to loading causing a deflection of the structure being` examined. This movement will cause a compression or change in pressure onthe crystals 9 and I0 and a correspondingchange in the charge or electric impulse therefrom. In using the device I as a force in response to shock comprising a piezo-electric crystal seated within said housing, a mass having a surface engageable with said crystal, resilient means for biasing said mass into engagement with said crystal and forming therewith a vibratory system of 'a natural frequency higher than that of the shock movements to be detected, and resilient means disposed between said mass and said housing for permitting said mass to remain substantially at rest when the device is sub'ected to shock.

2. A device for detecting the movement of a i body under a shock force comprising a housing for rigid attachment to said body, charge generating means for producing an electric impulse in response to movement of said body comprising a pair of piezo-electrical elements arranged for opposite polarity, Asaid housing having a surface engaging an end surface of one of said elements.' a mass having a surface engaging an end surface of said other element, an electrode positioned between said elements and engaged by the other end surfaces of said elements, and means'resil- `ientlilv mounting said mass within said housing of said other element, an electrode positioned between said elements and engaged byfthe other Y end surfaces of said elements, and resilient means vdisposed between said mass and .said housing for permitting said mass to remain substantially at rest when the device is subjected lto shock so that said generating means andv mass,- when under shock, form a vibratory system whose elastic demeter, it will be noted that the crystals 9 and I0 are mounted between the relatively movable housing'3 and member I5a and that crystals 9 and I0 will indicate the amount of relative movement as a measure of the force applied.-

Since certain changes may be made in thev above described construction 'andl diii'erent embodiments of the invention' may be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. Y i

I claim as my invention:

1. A device for detecting the movement of a 'body under a shock force comprising a housing Y for rigid attachment to saidbody, charge generating meansfor producing an electric impulse terminant is substantially given ticity of said crystals.

4. A device for detecting the movement of a body under a shock force comprising a `housing for rigid attachment to said body, charge generating means for producing an electric impulse in response to movement of said body comprising a pair 'of piezo-electrical elements arranged for opposite polarity, said housing having a surface engaging an end surface of one lof said elements, a mass having a surfaceengaging an end surface oi!1 said` other element, an electrode posi-` tioned between said elements and engaged by the otherend surfaces of said elements. and means resiliently mounting said mass within -said housing and providing a biasing force applied axially of said elements, said mass and said crystals 'forming together a vibratory system oi' a natural j frequency higher than that of the shock movement to be detected and. said resilient biasing. means havinga stiffness relative to said massso as to permit said mass to remain substantiallyat rest when shock is applied to said housing.

, WIIZLIAM P. WELCH.

by the axial elas- 

